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June 15 Game Notes: Iowa at St. Paul

June 15, 2021 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release


IOWA CUBS (11-23) @ ST. PAUL SAINTS (17-19)

Tuesday - 7:05 PM - CHS Field - Saint Paul, MN

RHP Joe Biagini (1-2, 4.74) vs. RHP Jhoan Duran (0-2, 4.11)

TONIGHT'S GAME: Iowa and St. Paul face-off for the first of a six-game series at CHS Field. For the first time since May 22, Joe Biagini will take the ball for Iowa, looking for his second win of the season against St. Paul. Opposite of Biagini will be righty Jhoan Duran starting for the Saints. Duran, the Minnesota Twins No. 5 prospect as ranked by MLB.com, will face the I-Cubs for the second time this season. In his first appearance against Iowa on May 27, Duran was nearly untouchable. He spun four innings of one-hit ball, walking two batters while striking out eight. Although Iowa struggled to get hits off Duran, he did struggle with command, throwing just 38 of his 66 pitches for strikes.

THIS IS EASY: Since joining Iowa's roster on Tuesday, June 8, Ben Leeper has been a great addition to the bullpen. Leeper, in his first professional season, is making it look easy against Triple-A competition. He pitched 1.2 scoreless innings of relief Sunday against Columbus, walking one and striking out two. In 4.2 total innings at the Triple-A level, Leeper has yet to surrender a hit, while walking two batters compared to striking out seven. Before joining the I-Cubs, the righty threw 14.1 innings over 10 games with Double-A Tennessee. With the Smokies, he owned a 1-2 record with a 1.26 (2 ER/14.1 IP) ERA. Opponents hit just .167 against him as he allowed just nine hits, walked four batters and struck out 22.

TWO FOR TRAYCE: Trayce Thompson struggled last series against Columbus, going 5-for-27 with 15 strikeouts, but on Sunday, he saw his hard work paying off a little bit. Thompson hit two home runs on Sunday and was responsible for driving in all three of Iowa's runs on the day. For Thompson, the two long balls were his fifth and sixth of the year with Iowa, good for first on the team. The former top prospect will look to use Sunday to stay hot at a place he has swung the bat well this year. Thompson's first series of the year with Iowa was at CHS Field against St. Paul, where he hit .304 (7-for-23) in six games. He slugged .522 with two doubles and a home run, knocking in five runs in the series. Thompson will look to make solid contact and break the strikeout streak, as he has struck out at least once in all but six games this year with the I-Cubs, including six straight games coming into tonight's matchup against the Saints.

WIECK'S WOES: Since being optioned to Iowa on June 5, Brad Wieck has made three outings with Iowa and hasn't been himself. After not allowing an earned run all season over 11 outings with both Chicago and Iowa, Wieck has allowed at least one run in his last three outings with the I-Cubs. On Sunday against Columbus, the lefty entered a tie game in the ninth inning and allowed three runs (two earned) on four walks and one hit, a double. He struck out one, but could record just two outs in the inning before being taken out, suffering his first loss of the season at either level. In 3.1 innings, he is 0-1 and has surrendered six runs (four earned) on four hits, five walks and two hit batters. Opponents are hitting .333 against him, with an on-base percentage of .550 over that stretch. He has struck out five, but has an ERA of 10.80.

ST. PAUL SMASHERS: In their last series against Iowa at Principal Park, St. Paul hit 11 total home runs on their way to a clean sweep. It was just six players that combined to hit the 11 home runs, and they did all of the damage in just three games. Tomás Telis, Ryan Jeffers, Brent Rooker, JT Riddle, Ben Rortvedt and Damek Tomscha were the six players who combined to hit 11 long balls against Iowa. Jeffers, Rooker and Tomscha all hit two and Riddle knocked three out of the park. If Iowa wants to have a chance of winning this series and getting back on track, a main focus will be keeping St. Paul's sluggers in the yard.

QUALITY ABBOTT: Cory Abbott was recalled by Chicago on June 5 and made his major league debut that day against the San Francisco Giants out of the bullpen. He made another appearance two days later on June 7 against San Diego and was optioned back to Iowa the next day on June 8. In his two relief outings, Abbott threw a total of 3.1 innings allowing one earned run on five total hits, walking one and striking out two. He made his first start since May 30 on Sunday against Columbus and spun six innings of three-run ball. It was Abbott's second quality start of the year, his first came on May 6 against Indianapolis in his first start of the year. Abbott walked one and struck out eight Clippers batters, giving him a total of 49 strikeouts on the year. His 49 strikeouts are good for the top-spot in Triple-A baseball, four more than any other pitcher in Triple-A. The biggest problem for Abbott got him again though, and that is the long ball. He has allowed at least one home run in all but one outing for Iowa this year, and gave up two more on Sunday. He has now given up a total of eight home runs over six starts with the I-Cubs, second-most on the pitching staff to Adrian Sampson who has allowed 10. His quality start was the I-Cubs' first quality start since June 2 against Omaha, when Alec Mills spun six innings of scoreless, two-hit ball.

AGAINST ST. PAUL: Iowa and St. Paul start their series tonight at CHS Field, both coming off of series losses. The I-Cubs are currently 3-9 against the Saints, including losing six straight games the last time the two teams met, when Iowa was swept at home by St. Paul. Over that six-game series, the Saints outscored the I-Cubs by 23 runs, 42-19. Iowa split a series with St. Paul at CHS Field back on May 11-16, their first road trip of the year.

BREAK THE STREAK: St. Paul's six wins over Iowa from May 25-30 was part of a stretch of nine straight losses for the I-Cubs. They broke the streak with a 2-0 win over first-place Omaha, but then went on another streak of seven straight losses before winning Friday night. Iowa has lost 18 of their last 20 games after losing on both Saturday and Sunday to the Columbus Clippers. Back on May 22, the I-Cubs had a record of nine wins and five losses, good enough for second place just a half of a game out of first. Now, they are 11-23, and sit 13.5 games out of the top-spot. After winning two of their first three series and splitting the third, Iowa has now lost three series in a row.

SHORT HOPS: Adam Morgan inherited two more runners on Sunday and didn't let them score, bringing his total to six inherited runners that he has now stranded...Michael Hermosillo went 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch on Sunday, extending his on-base streak to seven games with Iowa. The outfielder has reached base safely in eight of the nine games he's played with the I-Cubs...after their loss on Sunday, Iowa fell to 2-5 (1-5 at Principal Park) when their starter works 6+ innings.

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